


Come To Me: A Seduction

by Polerfan1986



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gold is a Vampire, Masturbation, Mild Language, Minor Character Death, Murder, Smut, Some influences from Bram Stoker's Dracula, Tags and Rating will more than likely change as the story progresses, Vaginal Fingering, Vampire on the hunt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-10
Updated: 2016-09-18
Packaged: 2018-07-14 05:03:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 19,909
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7154666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Polerfan1986/pseuds/Polerfan1986
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Heavily inspired by the movie Fright Night the original 1985 version.  Belle lives in the town of Storybrooke as its librarian, her best friend Ruby works in a diner owned by her grandmother.  A new neighbour moves next door to Belle and people start going missing from town.  When Belle finally meets this mysterious new neighbour he seems quite taken with her and Belle soon finds herself being seduced.  Come To Me is the name of the song used in the seduction scene in the movie.  Disclaimer: I own neither Once Upon A Time or Fright Night unfortunately.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A New Neighbour

“Hey Belles” her best friend Ruby called out to the petite, blue-eyed brunette. It was 7am and Belle was just opening up the library while Ruby was across the street wearing her apron and putting out the sandwich boards for her grandmother’s diner. 

“Hey Rubes” she answered “Are you and Emma still coming over to mine for a girls night tonight” Belle asked. “We sure are and we're bringing vino” Ruby replied. “Great oh guess what I finally have a new neighbour” Belle told her.

“Oooh is he hot” Ruby replied. Belle laughed at her friend’s automatic response, typical Ruby. “I don’t know actually, I only noticed the moving truck when I got home from work yesterday, I haven’t even seen anybody in or around the house yet, knowing my luck it’s probably some old woman with lots of cats” she joked. 

“Oh well we can be nosey when Emma and I come over later” Ruby told her. “Ruby, get your butt in here, I’m not paying you to gossip on the sidewalk.” The tall redhead visibly winced as Granny barked out at her, “I gotta go back in Belles, duty calls.”

“See you later Rubes” Belle said waving and heading back in to the library. Belle’s Monday in the library dragged in, it was a rare gloriously sunny day and as such there were very few people interested in borrowing books. She took an early lunch break in the diner with Ruby the two chattering over burgers and iced teas when an announcement on the diner TV set stunned everyone into silence. 

Someone in their little town had been found dead, a man and the body had been left in an alleyway behind a dumpster, but the police weren’t saying anything yet about how the man died which was odd. Such occurrences were so rare in their quiet little town that it immediately set everyone gossiping. 

Belle spent the rest of her day shelving books, checking who was overdue, writing and posting reminders for books to be returned and checking which new editions needed to be ordered. It was with some relief later on that Belle closed the library at 5pm, there had been no point in even having the library open on a day like that, it had been dead all day and the heat had been unbearable and left her sweaty and wanting a shower. 

As she pulled into her drive way, Belle couldn’t help but notice the imposing black Cadillac parked in the driveway of the salmon coloured Queen Anne next door. That definitely hadn’t been there when she’d left this morning or come to think of it when she’d gotten home from work yesterday evening either. The new neighbours were finally home it seemed.

When she entered her house, she closed the door behind her and immediately toed off her ridiculously high heels and made her way upstairs towards the en-suite in her bedroom. Stripping off her cardigan and unbuttoning her blouse as she went when she came to a halt in front of the window in the middle of her hallway suddenly feeling an ice cold shudder run down her spine and she got the distinct feeling that she was being watched. 

She quickly closed her blouse again wrapping it and her arms around herself as she ventured to peer out of the window. What she could see directly opposite her was the window of the hallway of the house next door but it was in complete darkness. Still though, the hairs were standing on her neck and she hastily pulled her curtains and blinds closed.

She detoured from her shower to check all the doors and windows and when she was satisfied that everything was locked and bolted she retreated back upstairs to her shower.

The rest of her evening passed normally enough, after emerging squeaky clean from the shower, she had thrown on her comfy clothes as she had dubbed her white vest and faded light blue jeans and scooped her lush brunette curls up into a messy bun. Ruby had arrived with Emma in tow who had just knocked off from the station where she was training as a deputy sheriff. 

They ordered take out which Ruby made them swear oaths not to tell granny about “Don’t get me wrong, I love granny but I just need to eat food that doesn’t come from the diner every once in a while” she said. 

“So Emma I know we aren’t supposed to ask but we heard about that man found lying dead in an alleyway on the news" Ruby asked the blonde. “Yeah, your right, you aren’t supposed to ask but in the interests of keeping my friends alert and safe I’ll tell you. It’s really strange, he was young like in his thirties young and the only injuries on his body were two holes on his neck like he was bitten or someone stuck him with needles, the coroner is examining the body as we speak.”

“Do you know who he was?” Belle asked “Someone named Nottingham, real douchebag according to anyone I’ve spoken to” Emma replied between bites of Pizza. “Hey Ruby didn’t he work at the Rabbit Hole?” Belle asked “you remember the bastard who tried to serve us spiked drinks one night last week.” 

“Oh yeah he was always giving you the glad eye wasn’t he Belles?” Ruby replied to which Belle nodded her head vigorously “and tried it on with you twice as well, the guy was a total scumbag Emma, whoever it was that got him did us all a favour” Ruby said giving her assessment. 

“Speaking of strange any sign of the new neighbours yet Belle? the redhead asked her. “Not a peep, nothing, I got the strangest feeling someone was watching me when I passed the window in the hall earlier but the place was in darkness and there was no one there.”

“If you think you have a peeping tom on your case you let me know straight away Belle” Emma told her. Belle nodded and opened the second bottle of wine of the evening. “Was the Cadillac still in the driveway when you guys got here?” she asked. 

“What Cadillac” Emma and Ruby replied in unison. Belle went straight to her window and peeped out through the curtains, the car was gone. “There was no Cadillac when we got here honey” Ruby told her. “Oh my god” Belle snapped feeling frustrated with herself "it must be hearing about Nottingham today, it’s making me paranoid c’mon girls we need to get through more of this wine before the night’s out.”

The three of them drank themselves into a stupor and dragged themselves upstairs to Belle’s bed where they collapsed in a heap and slept until noon. Thankfully none of them had to work the next day, it was Graham’s shift at the station, Ashley’s shift at the diner and the one weekday that Belle was allowed off at the library. Until Emma’s phone went off waking them all up and whoever it was they weren’t taking no for an answer. 

“Oh Who is that” Belle groaned stumbling out of bed and over to her front facing window, where she observed the Cadillac sitting in the drive way again, she shook her head “weird” she muttered turning away from the window as Emma staggered to answer her phone and Ruby pulled a pillow over her head. “Hello, Yes, Graham it’s my day off shift” Emma spoke “What!” she exclaimed “another one, Ok I’ll be there as soon as I can, yeah, Ok got it, see you there.”

“What’s up?” Ruby asked peeking out from under the pillow, “You guys aren’t going to believe this and I need you to keep it quiet, we don’t want to cause a panic but they've found another body" Emma replied. “What” Belle spluttered, “yeah, I have to go and meet Graham at the scene so I’ll see you two later” Emma told them heading out of the room. They listened as Emma trotted downstairs and out the front door. 

“Well I don’t know about you but I won’t be able to go back to sleep after hearing that” Belle told her friend. “Yeah likewise” Ruby who was now wide awake replied. “Breakfast at Granny’s?” she asked Belle who hastily replied “Yep, get dressed and let’s go, the sooner I’m in a public place the safer I’ll feel.” 

It was much colder that afternoon than it had been the day before and Belle had thrown on her white vest top, skinny jeans, cream cardigan and a pair of brown ankle boots with wedge heels. Ruby wore the black skinny jeans and boots, a black vest and a red and black checked flannel shirt that she had on when she'd arrived at Belle’s house the night before. The two girls made their way to the diner and ordered hangover cures AKA a plate each of bacon, sausage and egg for breakfast. “Hey I was thinking that Emma and I could stay over with you again tonight rather than you being in that house by yourself” Ruby said to Belle. “Absolutely I would really appreciate the company, thanks Rubes” Belle replied immediately.

“Hey look at that”, Ruby said in the middle of a mouthful of bacon, Belle followed her friend’s gaze across the street to where there had been an empty building two days before and now seemingly overnight a whole shop had popped up. There was a sign over the door which read Mr Gold Pawnbroker and Antiquities Dealer and there was a very tall man out front who was back and forward carrying boxes in to the shop. 

Belle’s attention however was drawn to the black Cadillac which pulled up and parked beside the shop and the man who got out of it. “Oh my god Ruby” she said causing her friend to look at her worriedly and almost as if he had heard her the man turned and looked directly at her from across the street. He was well dressed in an expensive looking suit and coat, his hair was longish, just brushing his shoulders when he had turned, it looked to be brown in colour with some streaks of silver and even though he had a short frame he did not look scrawny by any stretch. He was a slightly older man by the looks of it in his fifties maybe Belle guessed as he continued to stare at her and that same feeling of being watched that she had felt in her house the previous day returned.

He seemed to radiate authority and power, he was handsome but she couldn’t see his eyes behind the round tinted sunglasses he wore and for a moment she could have sworn that she felt a pull towards him and that unsettled her slightly. “Belle” Ruby waved her hand in front of her face “Earth to Belle, snap out of it.” 

“What?” Belle stuttered, suddenly losing her focus on the stranger. “Belle you seemed like you were miles away and look your breakfast is getting cold” Ruby told her "and if you don't finish that bacon I will." 

“Ruby, the Cadillac” she said turning and jerking her head towards the car “I think I just got my first look at my new neighbour.” 

“In that case we should go over and say hello” Ruby replied.


	2. Meetings and Dreams

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Belle receives a delivery and discovers that she has a secret admirer and she and her friends finally meet the mysterious Mr Gold. Jefferson is introduced in this chapter and Belle has a strange dream.

“Oh Ruby no” Belle protested as she saw the smaller man enter the shop and Ruby made to get out of her seat “Oh C’mon Belle, it’s not like we have anything else to do, we both have the day off, look we’ll just pop in to the shop for five minutes to say hello that’s all, what's so bad about that, he's not going to bite us you know.”

 “Oh Alright but let’s wait until the other guy is finished lifting boxes ok” she told her friend “besides I want to finish this breakfast and boy do I need it today.  My head is pounding after all that wine we drank last night” Belle said as she put a sausage, bacon and egg bap together on her plate and happily wolfed it down.

 “Yeah I know what you mean but never mind us spare a thought for poor Emma having to see a dead body” Ruby replied her voice having lowered to a whisper.  “Yeah you’re right I don’t think I could handle it and I don’t know how Emma does it" Belle said after swallowing the last piece of her breakfast.

“Oh that’s easy she’ll be telling us all about it tonight at your place over more wine” Ruby replied.  “You ready to go now?”

 “Yeah hang on a sec Rubes” Belle answered as she took a tissue from the small pack she kept in her handbag and wiped the corners of her mouth.  “Right" she said "let’s go meet and greet.”

Both girls made their way out of the diner and across the street and were walking towards the shop door when the tall man appeared out of nowhere and blocked their path.  “My apologies ladies but Mr Gold and I are still unpacking some stock at the moment and as such Mr Gold says the shop will not be open to customers until tomorrow morning” the man told them bringing both girls up short.

“Oh well thanks anyway, that’s no problem” Belle said to the man who nodded back to her and then she turned to Ruby “You may as well come shopping with me missy, my kitchen cupboards are nearly empty plus we need food for tonight anyway.  Besides we can always see the shop and meet Mr Gold tomorrow.” 

“Fine” Ruby sighed giving up on meeting the mysterious Mr Gold for that afternoon at least.  They headed to the supermarket and grabbed a trolley and Belle proceeded to pick out a week’s worth of groceries as well as food and drink for herself, Ruby and Emma later that evening and some toiletries. 

While they were shopping they met Jefferson in the frozen foods aisle, he was with his 13 year old daughter Grace.  Jefferson was a milliner and had his own shop in town, he also lived in the house on the other side of Mr Gold and had known the girls for years, he was like the brother they'd never had and they had been there to help him and Grace when his wife had died. Ruby asked, if he’d met Mr Gold yet, and Jefferson shook his head and told her that he had hadn't seen hide nor hair of him and he thought it was the teensiest bit weird as well.

“He’s a vampire” Grace said in the middle of the conversation.  “What!” Jefferson, Ruby and Belle exclaimed all at once and started laughing “Oh Grace honey, vampires aren’t real” Belle told her.  “I’m telling you, he’s a vampire” Grace insisted, “I saw a woman going into his house late last night and she didn’t come back out again and I saw him and the big man moving large boxes into the basement too I bet his coffin is in one.”

“Grace if Mr Gold were a vampire he wouldn’t be able to move around in the daylight" Belle said in an attempt to humour the teenager "and Ruby and I saw him outside his shop in broad daylight only a little while ago and those boxes you saw are probably full of items for him to sell and that woman was probably just his girlfriend.”

“Some vampires can move around during the daytime, if they have an object spelled to protect them” Grace replied with certainty.  “Oh I’m sorry, She’s been watching way too many vampire movies and TV shows recently” Jefferson said laughing “first it was the Twilight Saga and now it’s that show The Vampire Journals or something and it even has a spin-off as well, it’s a wonder she hasn’t driven me mad over them” he said.

“The Vampire Diaries” Ruby corrected him and shrugged when Belle and Jefferson looked at her with smirks on their faces “what” she said “I have to watch something on the TV in the diner when I’m working a closing shift and it’s either that or the Once Upon A My Favourite Characters Never Catch A Break show. Jefferson chuckled while Belle tried to stifle her laughter, both of them knew what she was referring to, Ruby used to love that fairy tale show as had Belle but that had soured over time as their favourite couple in it was ruined and they lost interest in it.

“Well I'd love to stay and chat but I have to drop Buffy the Vampire Slayer here off at her friend’s house, leave the shopping home and then go back to work but I’ll see you girls later” Jefferson told them as he and Grace headed for the checkouts.  “Later Jefferson” both Ruby and Belle replied both chuckling at his comment “he always makes me laugh” Belle said with a grin.

“Yeah me too” Ruby said fondly “we should ask him over later seeing as he’ll be on his own what with Grace being at her friend’s house and all.”  Belle nodded in agreement. “Ok have we got everything for tonight?” Ruby asked and she proceeded to list off pizza, garlic bread, potato chips, dipping sauces, soda, chocolate, cookie dough ice cream and of course wine.  “Yep plus my weekly shop that’s the lot” Belle told her “let’s pay up and get it back to mine before the ice cream starts defrosting.”

They got everything unpacked and sorted away into the cupboards and fridge-freezer and then made themselves comfortable on the couch as Belle switched the TV on.  The news channel came on and Ruby and Belle fell silent, the report about the second body was now public it seemed.  This time it had been a woman, a known prostitute, the corpse had been found early that morning and was badly mutilated, as yet the police had no leads and could not say for certain if it was linked to the body found in the alleyway the previous day.

Belle shivered as she changed the channel “that's enough of that thank you” she muttered “yeah” Ruby agreed “Oh look” she said as Belle flicked through the channels “they’re showing reruns of Stargate Universe leave that on, I always thought the guy playing Dr Rush was a total hottie” Belle giggled feeling the mood in the room lighten again “I saw him first” she joked.

Several episodes of SGU later there was a knock on the front door and Belle was surprised when she answered it to find a young man with a bouquet of the most beautiful red roses she’d ever seen.  “Delivery for Miss Belle French” he announced.

“That’s me” she replied. “Are you sure you have the details right?” she asked him, feeling a bit flummoxed “Yes miss” he said “these are definitely for you, I was given instructions that this bouquet was to be delivered to this address and into your hands and no one else’s” he answered her.

“Do you know who sent them” Belle asked him as she reached for her purse to give him a tip, “No I'm sorry, the order was phoned in and the gentleman didn’t give his name” he said to her as he accepted the tip she offered and left. _Well now there's a mystery waiting to be solved_ Belle thought as she carried the bouquet into the living room to show Ruby.

“Oh My God” Ruby said when she saw the flowers, “who did they come from?”

“I have absolutely no idea” Belle told her.  “Is there a card with them?  the redhead asked?

“Hang on, let me look" Belle said as she turned the bouquet and searched "yep there’s a card” she answered as she fished it out. “Help me get these in some water Rubes and we’ll see what it says, there should be a vase under the sink.”

“There we are” Belle said as she set them in the middle of the table after filling the vase with water and a teaspoon of sugar before putting the flowers in to it.  “Now let’s see what’s written on that card” Ruby said and Belle flipped it over and read:

  ** _“I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.”_**

“It’s a quote” Belle said, “it’s from Pride and Prejudice after Mr Darcy's second marriage proposal to Elizabeth, he tells her that he cannot pinpoint the exact moment at which he first fell in love with her because he loved her before he even realised it.”

“Wow” Ruby breathed from her seat beside her “your favourite flowers and a quote from your favourite book too and there’s no name on the card” she said her tone becoming disappointed as she looked the card over.  “I think I’ll leave this on the mantel for now” Belle said taking the little white card and placing it behind the clock on her mantelpiece.

A car horn beeping outside snapped them out of their reverie and Belle looked out of the window to see Emma’s yellow beetle pulled up behind her own battered ford.  “Emma’s here” she said as she went to the door to let her friend in.

“Emma what did you bring” Belle asked when she saw Emma's legs sticking out of the rear driver's side door as she lifted something.  “Blankets and pillows" the blonde replied "so we can all bunk down in your room tonight without any of us injuring each other or stealing all the covers like last time, I know you don’t have any extra duvets or pillows yet so I thought I'd bring these.”  Belle gave her a look of mock offense to which Emma replied with a smile “Hey it’s not my fault if Ruby kicks in her sleep and your a blanket hog, would you grab those pillows for me please?”

Once they had dragged the bedding upstairs and laid it all out on Belle’s bedroom floor, Emma then followed the two girls back down to the kitchen where she had her chance to ooh and ah over Belle’s flowers and card. “Oh Belle, red roses and they're beautiful” she said “girl you have yourself a secret admirer". Belle blushed and sighed, she couldn't remember the last time she'd had a genuine admirer as opposed to thick-skulled Neanderthals who were only interested in trying to get her to drop her knickers and who was to say that this one was any more sincere than the others had been. But that quote, she didn't know what just yet, nor could she explain why but she felt like that quote meant something on a much deeper level.

"Wait til Jeff sees them when he gets here, he is coming isn’t he?” Emma asked.  It never ceased to amaze Belle and Ruby how well Emma and Jefferson got on now considering that when they first met several years ago they were ready to kill each other and now they were the best of friends.  “Oh he’s coming" Ruby said “he just doesn’t know it yet, we’ll call him when he gets home from work.”

Jefferson knocked on Belle’s door an hour later, it was six o’clock in the evening and Belle had seen him walking down the street from her window and unlocked the door for him before she and Emma went to the kitchen and started putting some pizza and garlic bread on to cook and Ruby opened a bottle of wine and poured them each a glass.  However when Jefferson got to Belle’s front door he was not alone.  “Hello, I’m here and I brought a friend” he called out “We’re in the kitchen Jeff, come on in both of you, we'll be with you in a minute” Belle replied.

All three girls stopped short in surprise when they returned to the living room for there was a man standing with Jefferson, the same man Belle and Ruby had seen across the street from the diner that morning, Mr Gold. He was still clad in his suit and coat from this morning and in spite of his small stature Belle could still feel the power emanating from him.  “And who are these attractive, young people” Mr Gold asked his voice was deep and he spoke with a Scottish brogue while his gaze passed over the three girls, and settled on Belle.

"Well this lovely lady is Ruby who works in her grandmother's diner in town and this fine upstanding young woman is our trainee deputy sheriff Emma” Jefferson told him.  “Ruby, Emma” Mr Gold said briefly nodding to each of them but his gaze returned to Belle and he seemed to fixate on her as Jefferson said to him “and this little beauty is the lady of the house, your neighbour Belle and our town librarian. Ladies this is Mr Nicholas Gold.”  Mr Gold moved slowly, stepping forward until he was right in front of Belle never once dropping his gaze from her, she could feel a tension in the air between them that she couldn't put a name to as he gently took her hand and bowing his head pressed his lips against the skin of her knuckles making her stifle a gasp “charmed” he said to her and then he ever so slowly let go of her hand, lazily grazing her palm and fingers as he stepped back again and Belle excused herself to check on the garlic bread. “God he’s neat” Ruby whispered to her as she followed her to the kitchen.

Ruby was right Belle thought as she lifted the slices of bread from the oven, now that she had seen Mr Gold up close and without his sunglasses and knew that his eyes were the most beautiful warm shade of brown with small flecks of amber in them she had to admit to herself that she thought he was very handsome indeed. In addition to the rest of his appearance and the way he moved and spoke he was the living breathing definition of "neat" as he positively oozed old world charm and sophistication from every pore.

“What beautiful flowers” Mr Gold said casually remarking on the bouquet of blood red roses on the kitchen table as he followed them into the kitchen with Jefferson and Emma at his heels. “Belle has a secret admirer” Ruby told him. "Indeed" he replied "your admirer has made a fitting offering to you Miss French if I may say, as red roses have long been associated with beauty and perfection, very fitting indeed" he said gazing intently at her. “Ah, yes they are very lovely flowers" she replied trying not to blush and failing miserably "I was very pleasantly surprised to receive them, Mr Gold would you care for a cup of tea?” Belle asked him trying to change the subject and divert his attention from her.

Mr Gold began to apologize saying that although he would love some tea regrettably he could not stay long as he had to bring the last of the stock from his house to the shop to be put on display before opening for business tomorrow morning.  But he said that he was glad to have had the chance to meet his neighbours at last for he felt that it had been a tad remiss of him not to have already introduced himself by now but owing to getting the shop ready, the delay had been unavoidable.

There was something about Mr Gold that Belle couldn’t quite put her finger on, something which unnerved her as it had earlier when she had watched him from the diner and for the ten minutes or so that he was in her house she couldn't help but notice that his eyes never left her, not once, even when he was talking to one of the others he had kept her in his line of sight.

When he bid them all good night he again lingered with her “it was a pleasure to meet you Miss French” he told her. “Likewise Mr Gold, I’m glad to finally know who my new neighbour is” she said jokingly and he chuckled “well enjoy the rest of your evening dearie” he told her kissing the back of her hand again just as he had when he had been introduced “and thank you for inviting me into your home this evening” he said with a smile before he turned and left.

"Oh Belle, that man is sweet on you" Jefferson said addressing her after she had closed her door and taken a seat in one of her armchairs. "Don't be ridiculous Jeff" she replied a man like that could have any woman he wants so why on earth would he settle for me." she commented. "Oh honey you've been with the all wrong kinds of guys in the past" Emma said "and you shouldn't let their stupid opinions ruin your self-confidence, that man couldn't take his eyes off you just now." Belle nodded but replied "be that as it may Grace said today that she saw a woman going into his house late last night and not coming out again, so he obviously already has someone and I'm not the sharing kind."

"Hey Emma how did it go at your work today?" Ruby asked "we saw the news report."

"It was horrible" Emma answered quietly, "absolutely horrible, that woman's head was cut off" Jefferson dropped the glass he'd been about to fill, luckily the living room floor was carpeted so the glass didn't break, while Belle and Ruby sat wide-eyed and open-mouthed "and you'll understand when I say don't want to talk about it anymore than that girls, I just want to eat, drink and take my mind as far off that subject for now as is possible until tomorrow" Emma continued.

"Oh my God" Belle and Ruby said while Jefferson picked the glass he had dropped up off the carpet, cleaned it, filled it and passed it to Emma who nodded her thanks before she drank. "Of course we understand sweetie" Belle said "let's pick something to watch and set the food and wine out here on the coffee table."

They debated over what to watch for the rest of their evening, after her day at work Emma needed something light hearted and funny and Jeff swore that if he saw one more movie or tv show with vampires in it he would eat every hat in his shop.  So Disney marathon it was, they watched Snow White, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland and Beauty and the Beast while tucking into pizza and wine and afterward the cookie dough ice cream. As the night went on Emma and Jefferson had a debate over who was funnier Captain Hook from Peter Pan or The Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland while Belle threw in her two cents saying she'd always laughed at the scene in Beauty and the Beast were the Beast throws a tantrum and goes off in a huff when her namesake refused to join him for dinner.

By the time they were ready for bed Jefferson wasn’t fit to walk back to his house so Belle invited him to stay on her bedroom floor with Emma and Ruby or rather she and Emma politely but firmly gave him no option but to stay. It wasn't safe for anyone to walk about the street in that state after those two murders even if it was only a short distance "you'll thank us in the morning" Emma told him. Ruby was only slightly better swaying as she made her way upstairs in front of Belle. Granny was going to have a few choice words for her in the diner tomorrow morning when she showed up for her shift with her hangover.

Emma and Belle however were both fine because they both had no option but to work the next day, Emma had to be sober for her shift at the station and unlike Jefferson who owned his shop or Ruby who could swap a shift with another waitress, there was no one else to open the library but Belle and she didn't own it to have the luxury of being able to open and close it whenever she felt like it. "Thaaankkss Emma" Jeff slurred and hiccupped as he let himself slide from the bedroom wall where he had been propped up and down on to the pile of blankets and pillows on the floor where he curled up and started snoring, "good night sleeping beauties" Belle chuckled as she and Emma covered Jeff and Ruby with blankets before turning in themselves.

Later that night when they all lay asleep, Belle shifted slightly in bed as she had pleasant dreams of someone gently stroking her cheek, she couldn’t see who it was but in her dream she turned her head into the touch and heard a man’s voice say softly to her _“you don’t know me in this life sweetheart, not yet, but you will.”_ She jerked awake looking around the room, she felt confused for a moment as though she were still half asleep, the touch had felt so real but there was no one there except herself and the three amigos who were still sound asleep on her floor and Belle was convinced after a few minutes that it had just been a dream and she lay down again and drifted back to sleep having taken no notice of her curtains swaying slightly in the light breeze coming from her open window.


	3. Chipped Cups and Old Books

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Belle receives another gift from her admirer which prompts her to visit Mr Gold's pawnshop.

The next day and Belle was stacking shelves in the library, re-shelving returns and taking notes of what sections seemed a bit sparse and needed more acquisitions.  The feeling of being watched had returned since she’d woken this morning and it had continued to stay with her from the house to work, lingering she suspected because of her weird dream the night before.

As she emerged from the forest of bookcases and headed towards the check-out desk she stilled spotting a book lying on its surface.  Odd, that one wasn’t one of the returns, she was sure of it, she knew every single book the library held and she was certain that she hadn’t ever seen that one before.  This thought was confirmed when she picked up the book to examine it.  It was a very, very old edition of one of her absolute favourites Her Handsome Hero.

Belle had fallen in love with the book some years before because it had everything as far as she was concerned, far-off places, magic spells and a prince in disguise whom the heroine of the story met but she didn’t realise who he was until chapter three. The cover was blue with gold gilded lettering and when she opened the book to check what year it was published a small white card the same as the one that had accompanied her flowers fell out of it, she picked the card up while checking the date on the book. 

She was flabbergasted this book was apparently around 300 years old at the very least, possibly older, it had to be a first edition and very valuable.  Her hands shook as she turned her attention back to the card and read the quote:

**_“You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope...I have loved none but you.”_ **

She instantly recognized it as a shortened version of another quote from the works of Jane Austen, Persuasion this time, when Captain Wentworth declares his love for Anne Elliot.  Whoever was sending her these quotes and gifts certainly seemed to know what she liked and she wasn’t sure whether or not she should find that a little bit creepy.

As she examined the book again, flicking through the pages Belle found herself feeling a strange sense of déjà vu wash over her, she needed to know if this book really was as old as she thought it was, she glanced up and out of the library windows and across the street to where Mr Gold’s Pawnshop was.  She decided to kill two birds with one stone: take the book to him for a valuation and get to see inside his shop at the same time.

She knew that Ruby would be a little miffed that she didn’t wait for her but she’d get over it quickly enough.  So Belle slipped her brown leather jacket on over her brown blouse, which she had matched with her tan coloured skirt, brown tights and ankle boots that she had chosen to wear that morning, grabbed her bag and the book and locked up the library before crossing the street and entering the pawnshop.

It was quiet and there weren’t any customers there at present, “Mr Gold” she called out but there was no sign of life so she took a moment to observe her surroundings.  There were three glass counters and many more shelves filled with countless curious items some looked very old and like they would cost an arm and a leg while others were relatively simple, cheap looking or downright creepy .  There was a pair of dainty glass slippers, a large model windmill, a strange lamp, swords, photo frames and paintings, jewellery, two odd looking marionettes and even some dresses and books among many other things.

The one item that caught her attention though was the one tucked away at the very back of the shop on the shelf behind the cash register.  It was a cup, an elegant looking bone china cup, white with a beautiful blue embellishment on it sitting on a matching saucer and strangely enough the cup was chipped.

Feeling utterly compelled to touch it she stepped behind the counter and lifted the cup down from its shelf, there was that feeling of déjà vu again only stronger this time, she had felt a sense of recognition on seeing the cup, felt as though she had seen and held this exact cup, chip and all somewhere before, then before she could ruminate any further the cup slipped in her hand and she nipped her index finger slightly on the chip leaving a small cut and causing her to drop the cup which was caught smoothly by an extended hand. 

Belle looked up, he wasn’t much taller than her and she found herself staring straight into Mr Gold’s deep brown eyes.  “I’m sorry" she said motioning to the cup "there was just something about it, I had to see it but I didn’t mean to drop it." 

“It’s alright” he told her “it’s just a cup” despite what he said she noticed that he set the cup aside very carefully before stepping closer to her “you however have hurt yourself” he continued indicating her hand.  “Oh no it’s nothing” she said as he gently reached for her hand and to her shock lifted her cut finger to his mouth and sucked it clean.  Belle’s eyes were blown wide by the gesture, her breathing became heavier at the feeling of his lips and tongue on her finger and she couldn’t stop staring at him.

“To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit today Miss French” he inquired after slowly relinquishing her finger and letting her hand fall back to her side.  “Oh yes” she said snapping out of her stupor, “I came across this book in the library it seems rather old and I was wondering, that is I would like your opinion on it seeing as you’re an antiquities dealer.”

“Certainly” he replied “it would be a pleasure” he took the book from her and Belle noted the two rings he wore, on his widower's finger and little finger.  The one on his widower's finger was a moonstone ring, the other she couldn’t quite be sure of, both were set in gold.  She suddenly blurted out “please be careful with it” as she watched him handle the book, he cocked his head to the side in interest as he looked up at her from the book and asked “why dearie does it hold some sentimental value for you?” 

Inexplicably she felt like the answer to that question should be yes, yes it was precious to her so would he please be careful with it.  What came out was “like I said I came across it in the library and it peaked my interest”.  She was momentarily distracted by the sight of his rings and the words “have you ever been married” were out of her mouth before she could stop herself. 

He stilled and pinned her with his gaze as he continued to look at her instead of the book.  “Yes” he told her “I was married before, a long time ago now it seems.  My first wife left me for another man and my second…” and here he paused staring intently at her “what about your second?” she asked, the atmosphere between them again felt heavy with tension and unnerved her somewhat but the question had been asked and she couldn’t take it back.

“My second wife” he spoke again with a heavy voice keeping his eyes fixed on her “was my beloved, my heart, my true love as they say, she died Miss French.”  Belle gasped “Oh Mr Gold I’m so sorry” she said “I shouldn’t have asked you something so personal I don’t know what I was thinking.”  In truth she didn’t, she'd felt like she’d had to ask as soon as she’d noticed his rings, like she’d had no other choice.

“It’s alright dearie I know you meant no harm, how were you to know” he replied calmly “I will however ask you to keep that information to yourself if you don’t mind, it is a most painful subject and I don’t like everyone knowing my business but I think I can trust you not to break a confidence.”

“I won’t” she said quickly “I’m not a gossip, I won’t tell anyone, you have my word.”  There was a sudden look of longing that crossed his face as she spoke those words.

He nodded slowly and returned his gaze to examining the book “well this seems to be the genuine article Miss French” he told her after several minutes, “a first edition, four hundred years old by my estimation, and in excellent condition given it’s age.”

“Yes it is” she agreed aloud.

“It was obviously loved and treasured by someone and perhaps passed down through the years as an heirloom and taken care of by other family members, so as to its value I’d say it was priceless” he told her. 

“Might I inquire how you came to find such an old tome in the Storybrooke Library?” he asked.

“Oh..well..” she stuttered “someone left it on the check-out desk for me to find and it seems like it was the same someone who sent me the roses that you saw in my house the other day."

“Ah your secret admirer again” he said with a sly smirk “he seems to think very highly of you, whoever he is Miss French to have given you something so valuable”

Belle’s mouth had nearly fallen open when he had told her that it was priceless.  “I assume you’ll be taking the book back home with you then?" he asked her “Oh yes absolutely” she told him. 

She spotted a clock on the wall behind him that told her it was almost time to have lunch with Ruby and Jefferson, she couldn’t explain the feeling that came over her of not wanting to leave Mr Gold but she reluctantly began to excuse herself from his shop.  “Thank you for your valuation Mr Gold, I need to be going I’m meeting friends of mine for lunch in the diner.”

“Not at all Miss French, feel free to drop by anytime and please call me Nicholas” he told her as he caught her hand and pressed it to his lips as he had done before in her house.  “Thank you Nicholas” she said quietly as she slowly withdrew her hand, his eyes were riveted on her and she thought they might have darkened somewhat when she said his name

Belle felt his gaze burning into her as she turned and left the shop and even through the window when she was outside and crossing the street to go to Granny’s.

Jefferson was already seated in a booth and as soon as Ruby saw Belle she took her apron off and announced to Granny that she was taking her break.  Jefferson was very hungover, he had his head resting on the cool surface of the table and he groaned when the two girls sat down beside him “Oh my god, my head” he said sitting up.

“Oh poor you", Ruby replied unsympathetically as she took her seat placing a coffee in front of herself and Jefferson and handing Belle an iced tea.  “I’m going home after this I just want to crawl into bed and sleep, don’t know why I bothered going to work in the first place in this state” Jefferson mumbled.

“Same reason the rest of us go to work when we’re hungover” Ruby who was also feeling the effects of their sleepover at Belle’s the night before groaned “because we have bills and they won’t pay themselves.”

“Well I was in Mr Gold’s shop today” Belle chimed into the half-hearted conversation.”

This caught both Ruby and Jefferson’s attention, “Really what’s it like” Ruby asked her.  “There’s such a mix of items over there some of them beautiful, charming even and some of them quite odd, very eclectic, I felt at one point like I was in a Magpie’s nest.” Belle replied.

“I went over there because someone left this book for me with another quote at the library and I wanted to see if it was genuine and it turned out that it was.”  Belle produced the book and quote for her friends to see.  “The mystery admirer strikes again” Jefferson said between a yawn and sips of his diesel strength coffee. 

Belle said nothing to either of them about Mr Gold sucking her finger after she had nicked it on the cup and she also kept silent about his wives, she had promised him that she wouldn’t break his confidence and Belle never went back on her word once she had given it.

Somewhere between her conversation with Mr Gold and her meeting with her friends she had started to wonder if her secret admirer was perhaps literally a lot closer to home than she had initially thought.  That was all just speculation on her part though and he’d only just met her and with his sad history she was more than likely way off the mark for all she knew so she decided to keep quiet about her suspicion. 

She had pity on Ruby and helped her clear their table when Granny wasn’t looking while Jefferson said he was headed home to sleep off the rest of his hangover before Grace got home from school and told them he would chat to them later.  Belle headed back to the library and bumped into Emma who was on her way to the diner.  “Hey how’s the investigation going" she asked her quietly.

"Still no leads so far and we don’t even know whether or not the two cases are linked" Emma replied “I can’t say too much though the boss is right behind me” she said casually indicating over her shoulder Graham strolling down the footpath towards them. 

“How are the other two coping today?” Emma asked her.  “Oh they’re worse for wear but they’ll be fine Jefferson is gone home to sleep his hangover off and if Ruby could I’m sure she’d do the same but you know granny won’t have it” Belle replied with a laugh.  As Graham drew nearer Belle greeted him and then nodded to Emma saying she’d probably talk to her after work provided she didn’t fall asleep first as soon as she got home and then she headed back the library for the afternoon.

Meanwhile across the road in the pawnshop Mr Gold was on a break of his own and was sitting at his desk in the back room of the shop while Mr Dove his assistant was at the work bench reading the newspaper.  Mr Gold had his blazer hanging on the back of his chair and shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows and was currently eating the segments of an orange he had peeled and was lost in his own thoughts of his earlier conversation with Belle, the look in her eyes and the taste of her when he'd sucked the cut on her finger clean. Suddenly Dove spoke up “you were right about the book bringing her to the shop, she hasn’t changed at all has she sir” he said to his employer.  “No she hasn’t, not a bit Dove, she’s as lovely and intelligent as she was when I first met her and that’s just as well for me considering what I need to do” Mr Gold remarked to his assistant.

Belle closed up the library at 5pm as usual and headed to her car.  She saw Jeff’s car parked in his driveway two doors down from her and knew he was home safe, satisfied she went indoors.  Taking her boots off in the hall she then headed straight for the kitchen. 

Belle was a great cook as anyone who knew her would attest and would more often than not cook a meal that could last her two to three days which meant that all she had to do some days was pop her pre-cooked dinner in the microwave when she got home from work to heat it up as opposed to standing cooking when she was tired from being on her feet all day.  This was one of those days so she heated her dinner, wrapped a towel under the plate and sat on her couch eating with the TV switched on at a movie. 

Later after she was finished she left her plate and cutlery in the sink to go upstairs to change out of her work outfit and into something casual, jeans and a t-shirt.  When Belle returned downstairs she began to clean the bottles, pizza boxes and crisp wrappers from the night before into the trash. 

The next day was trash day so she lifted the two bags of garbage she had and brought them outside to deposit them by the curb for collection.  As she did a cab pulled up outside her house _strange I’m not expecting anyone this evening_ she thought as a woman with red curly hair and light blue eyes stepped out of the cab which promptly drove off. She was dressed in a skimpy green top and even skimpier black skirt and for a moment Belle felt like she had seen the woman somewhere before and not on a street corner but she dismissed the notion immediately.

“Oh” the woman said with an expression on her face like there was a bad smell in the air around her. Then in what Belle recognised as an English accent the woman asked “this isn’t ninety-nine Oak is it?”

“No it’s next door” Belle replied jerking her head towards Mr Gold’s house.  “Thank God for that” the woman replied haughtily and she headed towards Gold’s house where his Cadillac was now parked up again.  Belle headed back inside _definitely a prostitute that one_ she thought to herself.

Later that night Belle had been lying in bed for an hour reading a book with her bedside lamp on, when the peace and quiet was shattered by a woman’s high-pitched and terrified scream.  She jumped at least a foot high off the bed, dropped her book in shock and ran to her window.

When she tugged her curtains open she saw the light go off in what she assumed was Mr Gold’s bedroom, his whole house was bathed in darkness.  Belle stood transfixed staring at the side window of his room for a moment and trying to repress a shiver, seeing no movement inside or out she turned away and made sure her window was locked tight before snapping her curtains tightly shut again.

Her phone started ringing just as she was crawling back into bed making her jump again, she grabbed it with a shaking hand “What the fuck was that?” it was Jefferson checking on her.

“I don’t know Jeff but it sounded like it came from next door” she replied.  “I saw a woman going into Gold’s house earlier when I was leaving the trash out” 

“Holy shit, I was asleep and I don’t know how there isn’t a hole in my ceiling right now because I’m pretty sure I just went right through it, I mean it’s not like people in this town haven’t been frightened enough lately, Grace is terrified and hiding under her covers right now, I'm checking all the windows and doors as we speak and then I’m going to sit with her and read for a while to calm her down, you should try to get some sleep as well” Jeff told Belle.

“Yeah your right, no promises after hearing that scream though, night Jeff” she muttered back to him, “night Belle” he replied just before she hung up.  Indeed sleep did not come easy that night for Belle French as she tossed and turned occasionally seeing a pair of deep brown eyes, a spinning wheel and a falling teacup in her dreams. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ninety-nine Oak is Jerry Dandrige’s address in the original movie.


	4. Memories and Manipulations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A strange encounter between Belle and Gold.

Belle found herself facing her own reflection in an ornate full-length mirror in one corner of a strange bedroom.  She panicked looking around the room, the furnishings looked like something out of a medieval castle.  The walls were covered in tapestries and paintings, there were lush red and gold rugs covering the wooden floor and a large four poster bed in the middle of the room.

She turned her attention back to the mirror and noticed that in spite of her surroundings she was wearing decidedly modern clothes that she was stripping herself of. Her skirt and stockings were already gone and she was slowly sliding her navy blue shirt off her shoulders and letting it pool on the floor at her feet, leaving her clad only in a lacy white bra and matching panties. 

She saw movement behind her in the mirror and gasped when she saw Mr Gold approaching her.  He too was in modern dress and also half naked.  He was wearing a pair of black trousers and a belt but his chest was bare.  Belle took a moment to observe him in the mirror, watching the play of muscle beneath the planes of his chest and in his arms.

He was not a heavily built man but he wasn’t scrawny either.  He had muscle but was leanly built with a wiry strength about him and she found this pleasing.  He pulled her back firmly against his chest and stroked his fingers along the nape of her neck kissing her there. 

She tilted her head to the side to allow him more access.  Belle reached down and undid the clasp at the front of her bra and allowed it to fall open across her skin revealing her pert breasts.  She gasped when she realized she couldn’t stop herself it was like she was merely a guest in her own body, she could see what was going on but couldn’t do anything about it, she could only move as her reflection did.

Gold’s hands came up to her shoulders and he smoothly pushed her bra straps down her arms letting it land on the floor on top of her shirt.  She laid her head back against his shoulder as he began to softly suck and nibble her neck again.

He ran his fingers through her hair grasping it firmly and tilting her head further to the side and worshipping her neck and shoulders with his lips and tongue.  His hands slid to her breasts cupping them before he began to pinch and tweak her nipples and she felt them harden into stiff little peaks between the pads of his fingers. His eyes were locked on hers in the mirror and she couldn’t look away from him as she shamelessly thrust her breasts into his hands, silently begging for more.

One of his hands began to slide lower, dipping into her panties and moving through her thatch of brown curls until his fingers where on her clit, teasing her, she could feel herself getting wetter and wetter as she watched his hand moving in her panties in the mirror.  Her juices were dripping from her pussy to meet his fingers and she whimpered when he withdrew his hand from inside her underwear.

A split second later he pushed her panties aside with a growl and thrust two fingers into her tight cunt, she gasped and reached back to slide a hand into his hair and grasped it tightly as she watched him begin to pump her pussy in the mirror.  The palm of his hand was making the lace of her panties rub against her clit and causing the most delightful friction and making her grind her backside against his still clothed erection, he responded by thrusting back hard against her.

She let her head fall back against his shoulder still grasping his hair and began to frantically impale her pussy on his fingers, meeting him thrust for thrust and beginning to moan.  Belle could feel the sensations building and tightening inside her and knew she was going to cum soon. 

She happened to glance in the mirror in time to see him tilt his head back and open his mouth exposing a set of razor sharp fangs erupting from his gum line, she wanted to move to struggle against him but she was powerless to do anything but watch as he plunged his head forward to sink his fangs into her throat. Just as she began to climax Belle felt his fangs pierce her skin and she jumped awake in her bed gasping for breath and clutching her neck.

She leapt out of bed and ran to the wall to switch on the main bedroom light frantically checking the room, she was alone, in her own bedroom. Belle hurriedly checked her neck in the mirror, no bite marks either, it had been a dream but unlike any dream she’d ever had before, she shivered, feeling the sensations of his lips and tongue lingering on her skin. 

She was soaked with sweat and she could feel wetness between her legs, so she grabbed a towel and headed for the shower.  She felt like she was in a daze as she allowed the hot water to wash over her, it had been a dream but it had felt so real.  The throbbing Belle felt between her legs was very real and she was shocked when she slid her fingers over her clit and her body immediately began to convulse in pleasure and her thighs squeezed together “Oh fuck” she gasped out as she frantically rubbed her little bud while scrabbling for purchase with her other hand, trying to keep herself standing upright against the tiled wall in the shower but sliding down it instead as she moaned loudly "Nicholas".

She sat spreadeagled on the floor of the shower for several minutes before she finally stood, her legs where slightly wobbly, an after effect of her orgasm.  She finished showering and wrapped herself in a towel and headed to her bedroom, once she was dry and changed, she felt slightly better and flopped back down into bed. 

That dream she thought had been all kinds of weird, from the room she had been in and the contrasting clothing and of course the amazing things Mr Gold had been doing with his hands, lips and tongue up until the point where he suddenly had fangs.  She honestly had no idea where that dream had come from and she was never going to be able to look at Mr Gold the same way again she thought as she drifted back to sleep.

The next morning Belle still felt like she hadn’t come around properly, in a bid to clear her head she decided to go running before opening the library.  She followed a well-used trail through the woods stopping only once or twice to catch her breath and take a sip of water.

She was fine until she saw Mr Gold emerging onto the path from behind a large tree wearing an apron and boots over his suit and carrying a shovel, the head of which was caked in mud.  Belle became uneasy and thinking he hadn’t seen her, she decided to turn back.  She headed back the way she came only to find Mr Gold standing in the middle of the path ahead of her five minutes later.

She slowed to a walk and cast a look back behind her but there was no one there only him in front of her.  How had he caught up with her so quickly she wondered? 

“Belle” he murmured and she stopped a few feet away from him, “Mr Gold” she said with a nod.  Her dream had thrown her for a loop and she didn’t know how to react around the man and was having trouble looking him in the eye.

“Are you alright Belle?” he asked “you look a little flushed.”

“I’m fine” she lied “I needed to clear my head, I’ve had some strange dreams and restless nights recently.”

“Really” he murmured stepping a little closer to her “you know they say that some elements of dreams are memories, memories of another life.”

“What do you believe?” she asked him.

“I never rule out anything” he replied with a smirk.

“Couldn’t be memories of any past life of mine because y...” and Belle just stopped herself before the words you were in it and you had fangs could come out.

“Because what Belle?” he prompted her and there was a look of amusement on his face as if he knew what she had been about to say.

“It doesn’t really matter” she told him “it was just a dream.”

“If you insist, I must be going I have to get back to the shop but I’ll see you around Belle” he said excusing himself.

 _Just a dream eh_ he thought as he walked away, if he closed his eyes he could still feel her warm wetness wrapped around his fingers, could still smell her arousal and hear the blood rushing through her veins as she’d been so close to her orgasm. He'd also heard her in the shower when she had touched herself and cum moaning his name in her pleasure which had triggered his own release.

He desperately wanted to touch her for real rather than having to enter her mind while she slept and manipulate her dreams but there would be time enough for all of that later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The only reason gold had a reflection is because this was a dream.


	5. Feeding

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is just a little chapter I decided to throw in for those of you wondering about Gold's feeding habits.

He had just returned home from the shop, the day had absolutely dragged for him after he'd met Belle that morning when she'd been out running and he was glad to close up and head home. When he opened his door he found Dove fixing some of the floorboards in the hallway. Dove had been Gold’s most trusted adviser when they were human and he had remained with his master long after they had been turned.

“Evening sir” his assistant greeted him 

“Evening Dove” came the reply as he closed the front door behind him.

“What shall it be this evening sir.” 

“I think we’ll order in tonight” Gold replied reaching for the phone and dialling the number on a card he produced from his wallet.

“Hello this is ninety-nine Oak, I’d like you to send someone over tonight say in about an hour, excellent, no, something similar to last time will suffice but I don’t have any preferences dearie, excellent thank you.”

“All right Dove, dinner is on its way” he called out. “Did you get the fruit?”

“Yes sir as requested, it’s all in the kitchen.”

“Good at least there’s that to keep us going as well” Gold said as he glanced into the kitchen and spied the large box of fruit sitting on the table It was full of apples, oranges, bananas, dates, mangoes and avocados. 

“I have everything ready at the farmhouse now as well sir” Dove told him as he reached for his bag to store his work tools away.

“Good man Dove thank you” his master replied as he headed straight for the liquor cabinet in the lounge. “Whiskey Dove?" he asked the other man as he poured two half glasses.

“Yes thank you Sir” Dove replied taking the glass.

An hour later the doorbell rang and a tall woman with half of her hair dyed black and half white blonde and wearing a skimpy black dress with a short faux fur shrug around her shoulders stepped through the door.

“Ah welcome dearie” Mr Gold said feigning politeness, “do come in and make yourself comfortable.”

He wrinkled his nose when she walked in past him, she absolutely reeked of gin, he would have smelled her a mile away even if he hadn’t been a vampire.

He went to the drinks cabinet and poured her a glass, “drink dearie” he said offering it to her. 

“Thank you darling” she replied taking both the glass and the bottle from him.

“You know it’s a funny thing” the woman said, “a friend of mine was called here a few nights ago and I haven’t seen her since” 

“Really dearie, how odd” he said glancing sideways at Dove who stood at the door and then smirking at the woman. 

“Well her loss is my gain" the woman rambled on, so how do you want to do this short stuff” she asked him brazenly

“Well I’ll tell you what dearie” he said and suddenly his pupils dilated and he fixed her with his gaze “you are going to sit there while I drink my fill from you and then my assistant here will drink from you as well. It won’t hurt a bit, in fact you may even find it somewhat pleasurable and when you leave here tonight you won’t remember anything except that you were on a job and it went well, do you understand.”

He waited while she repeated everything back to him as if she were in a trance. Compulsion had its advantages the main one being that he and Dove could feed without killing if they wished. 

He had never killed when he could otherwise compel knowing that Belle would not wish it. But it also made life easier when living in a small town with a small supply of humans where a sudden decline in the population would be noticed. 

He walked around behind the woman and leaning down allowed his fangs to erupt from his gumline and sank them into her neck tasting the blood as it was pulled from her veins and ran down his throat, she moaned from the sensation thanks to his compulsion and after about ten minutes he stopped having taken what he needed.

“Dove” he said looking to the other man, “she’s all yours he told him” as he wiped his lips clean of blood with his pocket handkerchief. 

“I’m going to check on my little project” he said looking meaningfully at Dove “you carry on here and clean up after, same as usual.”

“Are you sure your finished sir” his loyal servant asked him as he always did without fail.

“Yes” his master said “you know I never take more than I absolutely need and once that’s done I have no interest in them, they’re only food.”

“As you say sir” Dove replied nodding his head.

“I’ll be back later” Gold told him.

“Yes sir” Dove said and he watched his master disappear out of the back door of the house and into the night. Long ago he and his master had started becoming craftier in their feeding methods calling women out to the house at night but only taking as much blood as they needed, healing the bite marks and compelling the women some different memories of the evening before sending them on their way. 

It was convenient and it meant they could drink what they needed without being caught on the hunt or disturbed in the middle of feeding. Other times they would pick off the odd homeless person or street thug here or there, they had increasingly stuck to people whose disappearances usually wouldn’t be noticed or show up on the police radar.

Avoiding detection was more crucial now than it ever had been. Hunting was risky business nowadays with every human carrying a mobile phone that was capable of taking pictures and recording videos and the press of a button could have that video or picture spread all over the world within seconds and vampires and other supernatural beings would be exposed.

However recently Gold had lost control and became careless the night before they had officially moved in to town. He and Dove had been watching unseen when that slimeball of a man harassed Belle outside the bar and Gold had waited until everyone was gone and the man had stumbled down the alleyway.

From there it had been easy but Gold had left the body lying in the alley in his fit of temper. The only small mercy had been that Dove by some miracle had managed to talk his master out of ripping the man’s throat out and so Gold drained the man dry instead and tossed him behind the dumpster When he had gotten home his master had downed a whole bottle of whiskey before he'd gotten the taste of the man's blood out of his mouth.

When Dove himself had been human he had not been married and so after he was turned he had occasionally taken lovers. His master however in all the years since they had been turned never once touched another woman in an intimate way. His master had sworn that he would have none but Belle in his bed, he treasured the memories of his time with her and swore he would not desecrate them by taking another lover.

He was now one step closer to regaining his beloved and through her his soul he thought to himself as he prowled through the forest. Mr Gold emerged out of the darkness beside an abandoned farmhouse, he had purchased it as soon as he knew he would have need of it and had Dove staying there most days in case anyone came around asking questions.

He entered the house and headed through the hall to the kitchen. He prepared a tray with a small bowl of soup and a cup of water and opened the door of the cellar where his guest would be. When he reached the bottom of the steps and knocked the light on a red-haired woman with pale blue eyes was curled up on the floor in a cage, he pushed the tray through a small gap at the bottom of the cage.

“Well well” he said, ”isn’t this just perfect, this is certainly a sight for sore eyes I must say.”

The woman jumped up “why am I here, why have you locked me up you bastard let me out” she demanded.

“What, not appreciating your cage dearie?. You're here because once, long ago you hurt someone I love, I know you don’t remember right now, so you’re staying here until I find a way to jog your memory and then when you know who you really are and who I am and remember what you did, then I’ll kill you.”

“You see I want to see the fear in your eyes when you remember, I want you to know why I’m going to kill you before I do it and then I’ll take the greatest satisfaction from it."

“You’re fucking crazy, let me out of here” she screamed at him. 

He pressed his face close to the cage and let her see his vampire visage briefly and she screamed even louder and moved as far from him as the small cage would allow.

“You have a lot to answer for, you’re not going anywhere Zelena” he hissed. His eyes returned to their normal dark brown but his pupils dilated as they had earlier and he locked his gaze on hers “now be silent” he commanded her and she had no choice but to obey under his compulsion, then he glanced at the tray he'd pushed into the cage "eat up dearie can't have you dying on me yet".

He returned upstairs, locking the cellar door behind him and found that Dove had followed him out from the manor and was standing in the kitchen.

“Finished feeding already Dove?” he asked him

"Yes sir" Dove replied "she’s cleaned up, healed and on her way home and compelled with a new memory of the evening as we speak."

“Good, Oh and job well done on the arrangements in the cellar” gold remarked as he settled himself at the table and helped himself to an apple from the fruit bowl.

When they had first become vampires Gold and Dove had discovered that as vampires were related to bats and some species of bats could subsist entirely on a diet of fruit so vampires could also be sustained to a point by eating fruit. It was a small mercy for both Gold and Dove neither of whom had ever liked taking the blood of humans to survive even though it was in their nature to be predatory and hunt.

The appetite of vampires for blood could be compared to an addiction to drugs in some respects. Vampires craved blood and had no option but to drink it in order to survive so they were unable to relinquish the practice but some like Gold and Dove loathed the craving at the same time and found alternatives but every so often a certain amount of blood was still required. 

They viewed their vampirism as something of a contagious disease that had infected them, corrupted them and reduced them to shells of the men they once were. Of course there were other vampires in the world who embraced their bloodthirsty nature wholeheartedly, they were rare nowadays though and usually travelled alone to avoid having to share food or territory with others and risk being caught.

Most other vampires like Gold and Dove travelled and lived in pairs or small groups, there were always at least two, one to keep watch and protect while the other rested and replenished their strength. This was derived from an ancient practice that had begun centuries ago in the days when no vampire could move around in the sunlight and so they had compelled human servants to protect them during the daylight hours while they slept.

However Gold and Dove had found a way around the daylight problem long ago and it had helped them avoid suspicion and survive during a time when humans were more superstitious and had hunted down and staked anyone suspected of being a vampire.

Gold sighed licking the fruit juice from his fingers while Dove was tucking in to a mango. While the appearance of the world around them had changed Gold was of the opinion that the true basic nature of the humans who lived in it hadn’t altered one bit.

He also didn’t care, he had become a master of manipulating people to get what he wanted long ago and there was only one human he cared for, his Belle and he would not know true happiness until she was by his side again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The references about vampires eating fruit like some species of bats do are from an interview with Chris Sarandon who said that this was the reason why Jerry ate fruit in the movie.


	6. True Love and Red Thread

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Belle's ex-boyfriend Gaston pays her a visit and Belle and Mr Gold discuss the subject of true love.

Belle was at home, it was the start of her day off and she had taken a notion that morning of going through her things and getting rid of any items she didn’t need or use anymore.

She was just about half way through when there was a knock on the door and she stopped to glance out the living room window. Belle groaned when she saw her ex-boyfriend Gaston standing on her porch, he was tall, dark haired and handsome with many a woman in town swooning over him however he was also a rude, conceited, egotistical prick and Belle wondered why she ever bothered going out with him at all.

Belle and Gaston had broken up several weeks ago, they had been seeing each other for a year during which time he had constantly pestered her to marry him. Belle had always politely refused saying that she had no wish to settle down and start a family just yet.

The truth was she had no intention of settling down and starting a family with him. Gaston had always been a temporary fling to Belle, she was of the belief that there was someone out there for everyone and that Gaston was certainly not the one for her. 

She had always felt when she was with him that her someone was still out there somewhere waiting for her, she could never fully explain why she felt this so she never talked about it to anyone and when Gaston started to become more aggressive with her, showing his true colours and behaving as though he regarded her more as his property than as an actual person she had ended their relationship.

However Gaston wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed and never took a hint easily, so it was with great reluctance that Belle opened her door.

“Belle” he greeted her as he pushed past her and into the house.

“Gaston, I’m surprised to see you here” she said, his presence in her home making her uneasy.

“Oh but I’m just full of surprises Belle you should know that by now” he replied.

Belle didn’t like the sound of that and began to back away she had a feeling that she knew exactly where this conversation was going, in an effort to get her back he was going to propose again and then she was going to have to refuse him and phone Ruby and get her to make good on that promise she’d made her some time ago about introducing Gaston to the wrong end of a cattle prod. 

“This Belle is the day I make your dreams come true” he arrogantly stated.

“What would you know about my dreams Gaston?” she replied trying to keep calm.

“Plenty, take me back Belle and we can be married today, I have everything already arranged, all you have to do is say the word.”

“Gaston this is insane, I broke up with you two months ago and the last thing I want is to marry you, now please leave my home” she told him as she made her way back to the front door.

Gaston was not accustomed to hearing the word no from a woman and grabbed Belle and pinned her against the door, his fingers digging into her upper arms so much that she was sure he would leave bruises “get your fucking hands off of me Gaston, you're hurting me” she said raising her voice to him.

He leaned in closer "Say you'll marry me because I'm not leaving here until you do" he told her.

"Never" Belle spat back at him, and just as she was on the verge of bringing her knee up hard into his groin there was a loud knocking on the door behind her announcing a second visitor. Gaston gave her a warning look as he released her and stepped back and a shaking Belle turned and opened the door.

Her shoulders sagged with relief when she saw Mr Gold standing there, his timing was impeccable, Belle was so glad to see him she could happily have thrown herself into his arms and kissed the life out of him but she settled for opening her door to let him in “Mr Gold” she said giving him a grateful smile “please come in.”

“Miss French, I was just passing when I heard a bit of a ruckus” he said calmly while eyeing Gaston like he was a piece of dirt he’d picked up on the toe of his shoe as he stepped into the house and walked past him “is everything all right?”

“Everything is fine thank you Mr Gold, Gaston this is my neighbour Mr Gold, Mr Gold this is Gaston LeGume” she said by way of an introduction, Mr Gold nodded coolly in the younger man’s direction.

“I'm Her boyfriend” Gaston said. 

“Ex-boyfriend actually” Belle added hastily “and he was just leaving.”

Gaston opened his mouth to argue but one look at Mr Gold’s face as the older man took a step forward and positioned himself in front of Belle had him rapidly closing it again without saying a word. "You heard her" Mr Gold practically hissed at him "she said you were leaving." Gaston only nodded stiffly and marched out the door. 

Belle closed and bolted the door behind him and Mr Gold was at her side presently. “Come and sit down Belle, have some tea you’re shaking my dear” he said as he made to guide her into her kitchen. Belle winced when he touched her arms and his eyes immediately snapped to her face watching her intently.

“You're hurt”, he said as he sat her down and moved to put the kettle on, he returned to her side and carefully rolled up her sleeves exposing the nasty red marks that Gaston had left when he grabbed her. Gold’s eyes were blazing as he gently touched the angry red hand-shaped marks on her upper arms with the tips of his fingers, she hissed and a few stray tears rolled down her cheeks and Belle swore she saw her neighbour's face redden momentarily.

“He did this” Mr Gold said, it wasn’t so much a question as a statement. “Yes” she told him “but I’m fine really, they’ll heal” and as she said it Belle tilted her head to look at Mr Gold wondering why he seemed so very concerned about her. 

He turned away to calm himself and a few minutes later a steaming cup of tea was guided into Belle’s hands and she closed her eyes momentarily as she sipped it. 

Mr Gold sat at the head of her table with a cup of tea of his own while Belle was to his left and she began to tell him about how she and Gaston had been seeing each other and when she’d broken up with him. 

Her neighbour's presence had a calming effect on her and there was something oddly familiar in sitting talking to him over a cup of tea, she felt as though they had done it a million times before but she hadn’t known the man very long so that just wasn’t possible. 

“So you always knew you weren’t going to marry him” Mr Gold said pondering over what she’d told him “how did you know if I may ask?”

“Do you believe in true love?” she asked him suddenly “in there being someone out there for everyone?”

Mr Gold almost choked on his tea but managed to recover quickly enough to answer. “Yes I believe in true love Belle” he said slowly, “I believe that there is someone for everyone and that we all yearn for that someone until we find them, I believe that the path of true love isn’t always a smooth one to travel but we know when we have found that person because we share an unspoken understanding and feel unified with them and they help us weather any storms that come our way” he ventured.

“Yes, I suppose it would be like that” she replied “that’s why I knew Gaston wasn’t the one for me, I never really felt anything for him, I knew I was just passing time with him and then I ended it when his behaviour became dangerous.”

“There is a belief in some East Asian countries about a red thread” Mr Gold told her “a thread which connects two destined lovers together regardless of time, place or circumstances and it is said that this magical thread may stretch or tangle but never break.”

“I like that” she said smiling softly at him as she finished her tea and set her cup aside “I wonder” she murmured “who my thread connects me to?”

“I daresay you’ll know them when you meet them, even if you don’t realize it at first, you will over time” he said gently.

Belle nodded slowly and then glanced at the clock on the wall behind him “oh Mr Gold, your shop” she said suddenly “I hope I haven’t kept you from anything.”

“Not at all dearie, Dove is minding the shop today I was just doing some clearing out at home and found some more things to sell. I sincerely hope you will be reporting that cretin Ex-boyfriend of yours to the police.” he remarked.

“Yes I will, I’m going to go and see Emma at the station about him today” she replied.

“Well I can drive you there if you like, it’s on my way to the shop after all?” he offered.

“Thank you Mr Gold I would appreciate that very much and Emma will probably want to speak to you as well seeing as you where here.”

“Very well then, that settles it” he answered.

Belle headed upstairs and dabbed a damp cloth over her face so that she wouldn’t look like she’d been crying, applied a small amount of make-up to make herself presentable and grabbed her coat, purse and keys before going back downstairs to Mr Gold.

Fifteen minutes later he pulled his Cadillac into a space in the small parking lot outside the sheriff’s station. They found Emma at her desk going over paperwork.

Emma glanced up “Belle, Mr Gold, hello, what can I do for you?”

“Ah Emma, Gaston came to my house today, he tried to propose again I was having none of it and tried to send him on his way but he…”

“He manhandled her Deputy Swan and she has the marks on her arms to prove it” Mr Gold interjected addressing Emma by her official title. 

“He wasn’t going to leave, only for Mr Gold knocking in when he did I don’t know what Gaston would have done” Belle said folding her arms and hugging herself.

“Where’s Ruby and her cattle prod when you need her?” Emma said smiling and making Belle laugh, “that’s what I was thinking just before Mr Gold showed up” she replied.

Then Emma told her “I’ll need to take pictures of the marks Belle for evidence, I’ll also need both you and Mr Gold to give statements but I shouldn’t have any problem getting a restraining order against that arrogant bastard.”

“What was that about a cattle prod?” Mr Gold asked curiously. 

“Oh well, when I broke up with Gaston, Ruby told him that she’d take a cattle prod to his balls if he came anywhere near me again” Belle told him.

For a moment he said nothing but then he cracked a smile and started laughing out loud “I must say I agree wholeheartedly with her, Miss Lucas is a very good friend to you Belle” he chuckled and both Belle and Emma began to laugh with him.

An hour and half passed in which Emma took the statements and photographed Belle’s marks. She placed everything into a file which was deposited in the top drawer of her filing cabinet and told Belle and Mr Gold that they were both free to go. 

“Belle my lunch break starts in five minutes if you want to go to the diner with me and we can fill Ruby in on what’s been going on?” Emma asked her friend.

“Sure, I’d love to Emma” Belle replied and then turning to Mr Gold she said “Thank you so much for your help today Mr Gold” and she leaned in and kissed him gently on the cheek.

“Not at all Belle” he told her feeling stunned as she stepped back “and how many times must I ask you to call me by my first name” he said in a playful tone.

“Nicholas” she said “It’s a nice name but I don’t think it suits you.”

“Oh” he said “please elaborate dearie?.”

“You just don’t look like a Nicholas to me.” she told him.

“What do I look like then?” he asked wanting very much to hear how she would respond.

“I don’t know yet” she told him “but when I figure that out you’ll be the first to know” she told him with a cheeky smile.

“Well I’ll hold you to that Belle" he said smiling back at her "and now ladies if you’ll excuse me I have a shop to go to” he said.

“Good afternoon then Mr Gold and thank you again” Belle said and she found she was a little bit sad to have to part company with him. 

Mr Gold walked out of the Sheriff’s station clutching his cheek where Belle had kissed him and feeling positively elated, things where heading in the right direction, however he would be paying a visit to Mr LeGume very soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Red Thread or The Red String of Fate is indeed an East Asian belief found in both Chinese and Japanese Culture. In Japanese culture the thread is thought to be tied around the little finger.


	7. Predator and Prey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mr Gold hunts Gaston down for hurting Belle.

Belle and Emma left the station five minutes later and headed for the diner to meet Ruby. 

“Granny I’m going on my break” Ruby said hanging up her apron as soon as she saw Emma and Belle entering the diner. 

“Hey Rubes, you got your hair done” Belle said the difference in her friends appearance was immediately noticeable.

“Yeah” Ruby said “looking at complete red in the mirror everyday became a bit of an eyesore much as I love the colour. So I had Ariel strip some the red out of the roots and colour it my natural shade and left some of the lengths and ends red instead.

“Well speaking of news Belle had an unexpected visitor today” Emma told her. 

“Think tall, arrogant and complete dumbass and you should come up with the right name” Belle said dryly.

“Gaston” the waitress replied knowingly “why didn’t you call me Belle?”

“I didn’t need to” the brunette replied “Mr Gold dropped in for a visit and backed me up when I told Gaston to leave.” 

“Mr Gold also stayed with her afterward to make sure she was alright and brought her to the station on his way into town” Emma added.

“Oh yeah and they were flirting after I had finished taking their statements, it was cute” she told Ruby who almost squealed with glee.

“Emma” Belle said as she began to blush bright red. 

“She kissed him on the cheek” Emma said furthering Belle’s embarrassment and making her blush even more if that was possible.

“Oh Belle I think Jeff was right Gold is sweet on you and I think your starting to like him too” Ruby told her.

“Anyway” Ruby said deciding to spare her friend from further embarrassment “I was thinking that we should have a girls night out soon, it’s been way too long since we last went out and let our hair down.”

"That’s a great idea" Emma replied.

“Yep" Belle chimed in “we just need to make sure that we arrange it so that none of us have to work the next day that’s all and my next day off isn’t for another week.”

“Ok so we’ll wait until then” Ruby said, “Yeah, absolutely” Emma agreed. 

Across the street in the pawnshop Mr Gold smirked as he focused on hearing Belle and her friends talking in the diner while he looked over a list of his inventory. 

Emma and Belle stayed with Ruby until Emma’s break was up then they both headed back to the station because Emma had told Belle that she would drop her home. 

Sometimes being a vampire had its perks, a heightened sense of hearing being one of them. Gold had been resting that afternoon until he’d heard the argument in Belle’s house, heard the fear in her raised voice and was out of bed, dressed and at her door without batting an eyelid. 

He’d seen red when he’d heard Gaston threatening her. He’d also seen the relief written all over Belle’s face when she saw him standing on her doorstep.

He felt his hackles raise when he caught a whiff of Gaston’s scent and he had wanted to kill him on sight when Belle opened the door. He recognised that scent, he’d detected it only once before in his long life and then it had been accompanied by the scent of blood and death and had been seared into his memory ever since.

He would relish his hunt tonight he thought to himself with grim satisfaction. Gold watched casually from his shop as he saw Gaston headed down the street towards The Hunter's Inn. Gold remained where he was, waiting for night to fall before he made his move. 

Late that night Gaston stumbled back out of the bar and took a shortcut down the alleyway at the back of the building on his way home, never for even one minute suspecting that he was being watched from the darkness by sharp, predatory eyes.

Gaston continued walking until he heard a deep growling sound somewhere behind him which stopped him in his tracks. Looking back and scanning the alley behind him he saw nothing and the growling ceased so stuffing his hands in his pockets Gaston resumed walking.

But he hadn’t made it much farther down the alley when he heard the growling again this time when he glanced around he saw a pair of yellow eyes glowing in the dark and a large black wolf emerged from the shadows snarling at him, it’s lips drawn back revealing it’s razor sharp teeth. 

Gaston turned and started running but was brought to an abrupt halt when he ran into something solid in front of him and landed on his ass on the ground. When he looked up he saw Mr Gold standing over him with his hands tucked in to the pockets of the black coat draped around his frame, the wolf had vanished.

Gaston began to back up slowly, sensing that something wasn’t right, there was power emanating from the older man, he was more than what he seemed.

“Mr LeGume” Gold purred “I think it’s about time that you and I had a little talk.” 

“About what?” Gaston replied.

“Why about Belle of course” Gold said.

“What about her? Do you think you’re her knight in shining armour now, after this afternoon? Do you honestly think Belle could ever want you, a weak old man when she could have someone like me?” Gaston replied arrogantly.

“You shouldn’t talk about her like that Mr LeGume it just isn’t polite.” Gold answered before leaning down, grabbing Gaston by the throat with one hand, pushing him against the nearest wall and slowly lifting him off the ground until his feet were dangling in mid-air. 

“In fact you shouldn’t talk about her at all because you aren’t fit to kiss the ground she walks on much less speak her name you piece of filth” Gold growled at him. 

Gaston’s eyes widened in fear as he realised that no ordinary man would be strong enough to lift him like that which meant that his life was in very real danger because Mr Gold couldn’t possibly be human. 

He tried to shout for help but Gold began to tighten his hold and choke him, “now, now we wouldn’t want to bother anyone else with our little disagreement would we Gaston, because then I’d have to kill them too RIGHT?” he shouted as he threw Gaston on the ground several feet in front of him knocking the air right out of the younger man’s lungs.

Gaston recoiled as Gold slowly and intently stalked towards him and picked him up by the throat again like he was a doll. Gold’s grip was tight and suffocating and Gaston grasped at his arm in a desperate bid to get him to let go but his efforts were in vain because Gold had a grip like iron.

“You see, you disturbed my sleep this afternoon when you arrived at Belle’s house and started arguing with her”, Gold’s fingers began to tighten around his throat, “you threatened Belle, you put your filthy hands on her” the grip on his throat grew tighter “and YOU HURT HER” Gold shouted shoving Gaston back against a cold brick wall, Gaston felt the life being choked out of him “and that sonny boy is just not acceptable” Gold told him as he lifted him even higher off the ground.

Gaston was flailing as he was held aloft, he pulled a switchblade from his pocket and tried to stab Gold in the hand with it. But Gold simply grabbed his wrist and squeezed tightly until Gaston had no choice but to drop the knife when he felt his bones beginning to crack.

“Fool” Gold hissed shaking his head at him “Belle was never yours not in this lifetime or any other, she’s always been mine” he told Gaston "let what you're about to see remind you why you once feared the dark."

Suddenly Gold’s appearance changed, his skin turned red, his eyes were yellow and burning and his breath became rancid. He menacingly exposed his long, razor sharp fangs to Gaston’s gaze and the fingers wrapped tightly around his throat became longer with sharp deadly claws. His full vampire visage was a terrifying sight to behold and Gold was not at all surprised to catch the whiff of urine in the air as pure terror caused Gaston to lose control of his bladder and wet himself.

“Not such a big brave man now are you?” Gold snarled relishing in Gaston’s fear.

“Please" Gaston gasped "don’t hurt me"

“It’s too late for that” Gold hissed “It’s been too late for you ever since you spilled her blood centuries ago and I'm sure she begged you that day not to hurt her.”

“What?” Gaston choked around Gold’s hand.

“Oh I know you don’t remember but I do, I’ve never forgotten, do you know why?"

“BECAUSE I WAS THE ONE WHO FOUND HER” Gold roared and with that he lunged at the younger man’s neck and sunk his teeth into his flesh and Gaston let out an ear-splitting scream. 

Blood spurted everywhere and Gold’s eyes rolled back in his head like a shark’s as his fangs crunched and sliced through veins, draining the blood from his victim before he ripped out his throat and spat the flesh upon the ground. 

When Gold released his grip, Gaston’s lifeless body fell to the ground like a sack of potatoes and there was a gaping hole in his neck. 

“You can come out now Dove” Gold called having sensed his loyal servant following him in the darkness earlier. The visage of the beast began to slowly recede now that the hunt was over and the kill made.

“Dispose of that for me will you” Gold said indicating Gaston’s corpse and the chunk of flesh torn out of his neck as he took his pocket square and wiped the blood from his lips.

Dove nodded and spirited the body away leaving Mr Gold to return home and try to wash the taste of Gaston out of his mouth.


	8. Growing Closer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Belle has a frightening experience and she and Mr Gold continue to grow closer to each other. I'm now on tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/dancingscorpiodearie

Two uneventful days later and Belle was getting ready to go to work, she had no sooner stepped outside her front door than she saw Graham getting out of his car and walking up the steps to her porch.

“Belle” Graham said in greeting “I need to talk to you.”

“Why, what’s wrong?” Belle asked.

“Gaston LeGume was reported missing this morning, he hasn’t been home or shown up for work in two days and I think you were one of the last people to see him.”

“I read the statements that you and Mr Gold gave to Emma” the sheriff continued “and while those are fine I am required to ask if you have seen or heard anything from Gaston since.”

“No” Belle answered “the last I seen of him was here when I asked him to leave the house, I haven’t seen him since.”

“Do you have any idea where he might go?” the Sheriff enquired.

“No, I’m sorry but I don’t and with all due respect Graham I think you should be asking his friends that, not me” Belle told him.

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to disturb you Belle but I had to ask, I have to find Mr Gold now and ask him as well.”

“No problem Graham, you’re only doing your job” Belle replied as she closed her front door behind her and headed for her car. Ten minutes later she was opening up the library for the day.

As she was fluttering about making sure that everything was clean and tidy and in its place she failed to notice Mr Gold entering the building.

“Good morning Belle” he said warmly “and how are you today?” he inquired.

“Good morning Mr Gold” she said greeting her neighbour with a friendly smile “I’m absolutely fine” she told him “thanks to you for your help.”

“I was only too happy to help Belle, and any time you need my help please don’t be afraid to ask me” he told her.

“That’s very kind of you” she said blushing lightly “is there anything I can help you look for today?” she asked him.

“No I just wanted to be sure that you were alright” he replied.

“Well I am thank you, I was told by Sheriff Graham this morning that Gaston has been reported missing” she informed her neighbour, “has Graham seen you yet today.”

“No, he hasn’t, not yet” Gold answered “but the day is young.”

I wanted to give you this” he said producing a thin white box from behind his back.

“Oh Mr Gold you didn’t have to get me anything” Belle told him.

“Nonsense” he said as she opened the box to reveal a beautiful deep red rose and a small white card alongside it.

She lifted the card out of the box and saw a small quote written on it:

“Sometimes the best book has the dustiest jacket and sometimes the best teacup is chipped”

She snapped her head up to look him in the eye, “so it _was_ you sending me those lovely flowers” she murmured. “I recognise this quote but I can’t think where I’ve heard it from" she told him. "I don’t know what to say Mr Gold.”

“You don’t have to say anything just please accept it Belle” he said gently.

“I was planning to” she replied blushing slightly and making him smile.

"So only one rose today?" she asked him playfully.

"Ah but this one is a special rose" he murmured.

"Why?" she asked him enthralled by his voice and delicious accent.

"Because it's magical" he whispered seriously and then equally as playful as she had been he said "it has the power to make you fall in love with me" as he stepped closer to her.

Belle started to laugh at him "Oh Mr Gold really" she exclaimed.

"There you see it is magical, it made you smile" he murmured before he leaned in and kissed her on the cheek.

Belle's laughter ceased and she stilled, gazing at him, their lips where a hairsbreadth away from each other as they stared intently at each other.

They snapped out of their respective trances when the library doors opened and a class of children were led into the library by their teacher.

"I have to get back to work" she told him quietly.

He nodded “well I’ll leave you to it Belle, I’ll see you later.”

The children were there for only an hour for story time in the children's reading corner and when they had gone Belle looked at the quote Mr Gold had given her again, it had struck a chord deep within her. “Where do I know this from” she murmured to herself.

She went into her office and switched on her laptop and googled the quote but nothing came up which left her baffled because she knew she had seen or heard this particular quote before she was absolutely certain of it, so it made no sense for there to be no information on google somewhere about it.

The rest of the day passed as uneventfully as the previous two had, Belle went to the diner for lunch and spoke to Ruby. They saw Emma and Graham in the diner and going into other shops up and down the street enquiring about Gaston and missing posters were put up around town for him.

“I’m telling you, there is some weird shit going on around here lately” Ruby had said as they ate their lunch.

“I know” Belle had murmured in agreement “it’s getting stranger by the day in this town.”

When she returned to the library Belle tried searching for the mysterious quote again, thinking perhaps that she had overlooked something earlier, she found only one entry relating to the wedding of a King and Queen in Europe some four hundred years earlier.

It was an old legend, apparently not long after they were married something happened to the Queen, some say that she ran away or that she died of an illness, others however were adamant that she had been murdered and the King in his grief had become a recluse, his kingdom fell and people avoided his lands, there were even rumours of a curse. The quote itself was supposedly part of the wedding vows exchanged between the King and Queen.

That was all there was and the hairs were standing on the back of Belle’s neck as she read the small amount of material she had found. She had never heard this story before and if this was really the only reference that she could find to this quote then how was it that she recognised it as something she had heard before and even stranger still how did Mr Gold come to know it and then she remembered the book he had given her with another quote. He had told her that the book was four hundred years old as well, there had to be a connection between that book and this story, something she was missing but what. Belle had always loved a good mystery and she just knew that she was going to have to ask Mr Gold more about this story when she saw him next.

Belle was so absorbed in her search that she almost didn’t hear the footsteps in the library.

“Hello?” she said poking her head out of her office, there was no answer "Hello is anyone here?" she asked but still there was no answer and the footsteps had stopped.

Belle felt chilled and she tentatively walked from her office to the library floor, peering down the aisles as she passed them. Suddenly she heard the footsteps again somewhere near one of the aisles that she had already passed, they were moving quickly towards the main doors.

Belle hurried to catch whoever it was but by the time she got to the doors they were gone. She checked the street outside and seeing no one suspicious Belle shrugged and dismissed it as just being some kid playing a prank and went back to work but she couldn’t help herself if she occasionally checked over her shoulder for the rest of the afternoon.

When Belle approached her car that evening after locking up the library at half past eight she noticed that her two back tyres were as flat as pancakes.

“Oh no” she cried rushing to examine the damage, the hairs rose on the back of her neck again and an icy shudder ran down her spine when she saw that they had been slashed. She slowly rose to her feet and began to back away from the car she glanced across the street at the pawnshop but it was in darkness and Mr Gold’s car was gone.

Belle turned and began walking in the direction of her house, it would take her half an hour to get home on foot, so she started walking fast, the incident with her tyres having left her quite nervous.

She was constantly looking around her, checking to make sure she wasn’t being followed when suddenly she heard footsteps nearby, she stopped for a moment and the footsteps stopped as well. When Belle started walking again the other person whoever they were did the same. Belle was becoming fairly alarmed, whoever it was, they were keeping up with her even when she started walking faster.

That did it for Belle and she began to run fast, hurtling blindly through the streets, she could still hear whoever it was chasing her and she began to cry, tears streaming down her face as she started calling out for help when suddenly just as she was about to round the corner that led to her own street she collided with something solid and fell on her backside on the hard pavement.

She tried to push herself away but whoever it was had taken hold of her by the arms and then she heard her name being called and she looked up into warm liquid brown eyes.

“Mr Gold” she cried in relief and threw herself into his arms.

“Belle, what’s happened to you, why were you running, has someone hurt you?” he asked full of concern.

Belle was still crying into his chest and Mr Gold tipped her chin up with his finger so she was looking at him.

“Belle” he tried again “it’s alright, you’re safe now, tell me what happened please?”

Belle remembered the footsteps and jerked around listening for them but there was no sound except distant traffic and their breathing.

Still in his arms she looked back around at him with wide frightened eyes, “someone was in the library earlier, I think they were watching me because they ran out of the building as soon as I knew they were there.”

“I thought nothing of it until I was heading home and discovered that the back tyres of my car had been slashed, and when I was walking home I heard someone following me, every time I stopped they stopped too and when I walked faster so did they, so I ran and I could still hear them following me, chasing after me.”

“Did you see who it was Belle?” Mr Gold asked, all seriousness.

“No I didn’t” she said shaking her head “but they were there and they were following me and both of my back tyres have been cut to ribbons” she said.

“Alright, I believe you, I never doubted you, now you’re going to come back to my house, we’re going to have some tea and then we’re going to call the sheriff’s station to report this, alright Belle?”

She nodded against his chest having rested her forehead against him and he rubbed her back.

“What were you doing out walking at this time of the evening Mr Gold, I hope I’m not taking you away from anything?” she asked him.

“Oh not to worry, I was just out for an evening walk dearie” he replied casually, he wasn’t about to tell her that he’d heard her panicked heartbeat and crying and had been on his way to find her.

“Now let’s get you indoors” he said as he looked around scanning for anything or anyone out of place, fully tuning in to their surroundings with his vampiric senses, but there was nothing, whoever it was, they were definitely gone now.

Belle and Mr Gold had no sooner entered Gold’s house than Mr Dove arrived shortly after.

Mr Gold had just settled Belle into a chair, with a light blanket around her shoulders and put the kettle on when he said “excuse us for a moment would you dearie, Dove here has been running some errands for me and I just remembered I have another one for him before he’s finished for the day.”

Belle nodded and Gold and Dove headed for the foyer.

“Dove I want you to go and have a look around the neighbourhood and the library, Belle’s car was vandalised and she was followed in and from the library today and I want to know by whom, see if you can pick up a trail, a scent anything, understood?”

“Yes sir, uh sir there is something else, our guest in the farmhouse seems to be starting to regain some of her memories” the taller man replied.

“Well isn’t that a happy coincidence” Gold replied dryly, “I’ll pay her a visit when you return and you can keep watch on Belle’s house while I’m out.”

“Yes sir” Dove nodded and he departed as quickly as he had appeared.

Ten minutes later Graham had pulled up outside Mr Gold’s house.

“There’s something very strange going on in this town lately” he observed between asking Belle questions “first those bodies turn up, then Mr LeGume goes missing and now your car was vandalised and you were followed.”

“Ruby and I were saying the same thing in the diner today at lunch” Belle murmured.

“It’s a lot in a short space of time isn’t it Sheriff?” Mr Gold commented.

“Yes” Graham said with a nod, “it is especially in a small town like this one.”

“Are you sure you didn’t see anyone Belle?”

“No Graham I didn’t see them but I certainly heard them” she replied and sipped her tea again.

“Alright I’ll go by the library with Emma to check around and to have a look at your car before I have it towed, I may need to keep hold of it as evidence for a while Belle, I’m sorry for the inconvenience and I'll need your car keys.”

“That’s ok Graham I understand” she replied as she handed over her car keys to him.

“The sheriff nodded before he stood, “alright well what I have from you at the moment will be enough for now, I’ll see you tomorrow about the car.”

“Ok good night Graham” she said.

“I’ll show you out Sheriff" Mr Gold said rising from his own chair as well and escorting the sheriff out.

When he came back in Belle had gotten to her feet and was folding the blanket over the back of the chair.

“I should be going now as well” she said quietly when she looked up and spotted him leaning against the door frame and staring at her.

Belle didn’t move when he approached her slowly, he brushed a stray lock of her hair from her face and lightly stroked her cheek before leaning down and whispering in her ear “beautiful” as she leaned into his touch.

She tried to withdraw a little but the near constant pull she felt between herself and her neighbour was almost too much to resist at that moment, combined with his scent as he nuzzled her cheek and kissed the side of her face. Then he captured her lips, softly nipping her bottom lip and sliding his tongue into her mouth when she gasped.

Belle’s hands slid into his hair and she tugged it gently making him growl and kiss her harder, as he stole the breath from her body as if he couldn’t live without it. He had wrapped one arm around her waist while his other hand had come up to grasp the back of her neck pressing her firmly against him while their tongues duelled with each other.

Eventually Belle had to come up for air, so they broke apart, breathing heavily, chests heaving, lips swollen and eyes hooded as they stared at each other.

Belle touched her lips with the tips of her fingers as she looked at him, she could feel the connection between them, it felt even stronger now than it had been before.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t help myself” he told her.

“No” she said cutting him off and placing her hand on his lips now “no don’t apologise.”

“I liked it” she confessed “I liked it very much, there’s something familiar about you Mr Gold, something I can’t quite put my finger on but I feel like I’ve known you for a lifetime, sounds silly I know but I just can’t shake that notion.”

He nodded “It’s not silly, I feel the same way about you Belle” he could admit that much, but he couldn’t tell her the rest, not yet anyway.

“I really should be going home now” she told him “I have work tomorrow and Graham said he would stop by so I need to get an early night.”

“Allow me to walk you to your door then Miss French” he said as he smiled and gave her a playful flourishy bow and offered her his hand.

“Why thank you sir” she answered returning his bow with a courtesy of her own and giggling at him, the sound was music to his ears.

When they got to her front door he reluctantly let her hand slip from his but Belle grasped his jacket lapels and pulled him in for a gentle kiss before whispering “Goodnight Mr Gold” against his lips.

“Goodnight Belle” he murmured as he stood on her porch waiting until she was safely inside and had closed the door before he looked around the outside of Belle's house, searching for anything out of place, finding nothing he slipped inside.

He could hear Belle having a shower as he searched around, he could detect nothing untoward inside the house either, so he slipped upstairs and entered Belle's bedroom, her ensuite door was slightly ajar and he could see her in the shower as she rubbed shower creme on her skin. He felt his trousers grow tighter as he watched her, he longed to be able to join her and slide his hands all over her wet, naked body but there would be time for all of that later. He shook himself and searched around the whole upper level of the house and was relieved to find nothing out of place.

He crept back in to Belle's room when he knew she was asleep and stood by her bedside, watching her beautiful face and the gentle rise and fall of her chest as she slept peacefully, lost in her dreams then he leaned down to kiss her and whispered “goodnight sweetheart” before he left her house.


End file.
